Q fever in the Netherlands: an update on the epidemiology and control measures

W van der Hoek; F Dijkstra; B Schimmer; P M Schneeberger; P Vellema; C Wijkmans; R ter Schegget; V Hackert; Y van Duynhoven

doi:10.2807/ese.15.12.19520-en

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Q fever in the Netherlands: an update on the epidemiology and control measures
W van der Hoek¹ , F Dijkstra¹ , B Schimmer¹ , P M Schneeberger² , P Vellema³ , C Wijkmans⁴ , R ter Schegget⁵ , V Hackert⁶ , Y van Duynhoven¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands ² Jeroen Bosch Hospital, ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands ³ Animal Health Service, Deventer, the Netherlands ⁴ Municipal Health Service “Hart voor Brabant”, ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands ⁵ Municipal Health Service Brabant-Southeast, Eindhoven, the Netherlands ⁶ Municipal Health Service South Limburg, Sittard-Geleen, the Netherlands

Correspondence:
W van der Hoek
wim.van.der.hoek rivm.nl
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Citation style for this article: van der Hoek W, Dijkstra F, Schimmer B, Schneeberger P M, Vellema P, Wijkmans C, ter Schegget R, Hackert V, van Duynhoven Y. Q fever in the Netherlands: an update on the epidemiology and control measures. Euro Surveill. 2010;15(12):pii=19520. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.15.12.19520-en Received: 05 Mar 2010

Abstract

Since the steady rise in human cases which started in 2007, Q fever has become a major public health problem in the Netherlands with 2,357 human cases notified in the year 2009. Ongoing research confirms that abortion waves on dairy goat farms are the primary source of infection for humans, primarily affecting people living close (under 5 km) to such a dairy goat farm. To reverse the trend of the last three years, drastic measures have been implemented, including the large-scale culling of pregnant goats on infected farms.